Assistant Professor

Lewis Hall, #3150
Office: (757) 446-5639
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Teaching: Immunology

Biomedical Sciences Program Track: Molecular Integrative Biosciences (MIB)

Education

• B.S., Seoul National University
• Ph.D., Rutgers University, Newark
• Postdoctoral Training, Harvard Medical School

Research Interests

The focus of my research is on AIDS pathogenesis, neuroAIDS and the study of monocyte maturation, infection and traffic. The goals of these studies are to define the role of macrophages in the central nervous system, and monocytes and CD8+ T lymphocytes outside the brain, contributing to pathogenesis of disease. Much of this work is done in non-human primate models.
We have described target cells infected in the CNS, their turnover and replacement by cells from the blood and bone marrow, and emerging subpopulations of monocytes that expand with disease. While investigating a pathogenic role of activated/infected monocytes in the induction of brain infection and inflammation, we are currently working on immunologic agents that selectively target SIV and HIV infected, activated monocyte/macrophages. We use the CD8 lymphocyte depletion and rapid AIDS model to study the consequences of monocyte/macrophage activation and traffic, the role of viral sequences within SIV that may drive CNS disease.

Selected Publications

• Kim W-K, Sun Y, Do H, Autissier P, Halpern EF, Piatak M Jr, Lifson JD, Burdo TH, McGrath MS, Williams K (2010) Monocyte heterogeneity underlying phenotypic changes in monocytes according to SIV disease stage. J Leukoc Biol 87:557-567.

• Hasegawa A, Liu H, Ling B, Borda JT, Alvarez X, Sugimoto C, Vinet-Oliphant H, Kim W-K, Williams KC, Ribeiro RM, Lackner AA, Veazey RS, Kuroda MJ (2009) The level of monocyte turnover predicts disease progression in the macaque model of AIDS. Blood 114:2917-2925.

• Stettner MR, Nance JA, Wright CA, Kinoshita Y, Kim W-K, Morgello S, Rappaport J, Khalili K, Gordon J, Johnson EM (2009) SMAD proteins of oligodendroglial cells regulate transcription of JC viral early and late genes coordinately with the Tat protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1. J Gen Virol 90:2005-2014.

• Lentz MR, Kim W-K*, Lee V, Bazner S, Halpern EF, Venna N, Williams K, Rosenberg ES, González RG (2009) Changes in MRS neuronal markers and T cell phenotypes observed during early HIV infection. Neurology 72:1465-1472. *co-first author

• Wüthrich C, Kesari S, Kim W-K, Williams K, Gelman R, Elmeric D, De Girolami U, Joseph JT, Hedley-White T, Koralnik IJ (2006) Characterization of lymphocytic infiltrates in progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy: Co-localization of CD8+ T cells with JCV-infected glial cells. J Neurovirol 12:116-128. Cover page of the journal.

• Kim W-K, Alvarez X, Fisher J, Bronfin B, Westmoreland S, McLaurin J, Williams K (2006) CD163 identifies perivascular macrophages in normal and viral encephalitic brains and potential precursors to perivascular macrophages in blood. Am J Pathol 168:822-834.

• Kim W-K, Alvarez X, Williams K (2005) The role of monocytes and perivascular macrophages in HIV and SIV neuropathogenesis: information from non-human primate models. Neurotox Res 8:107-115.

• Williams K, Westmoreland S, Greco J, Ratai E, Lentz M, Kim W-K, Fuller RA, Kim JP, Autissier P, Sehgal PK, Schinazi R, Bischofberger N, Piatak M Jr, Lifson JD, Masliah E, González RG (2005) Magnetic resonance spectroscopy reveals a role of activated blood monocytes contributing to neuronal injury in simian immunodeficiency virus neuroAIDS. J Clin Invest 115:2534-2545.

• Benito C, Kim W-K, Chavarría I, Hillard CJ, Mackie K, Tolón RM, Williams K, Romero J (2005) A glial endogenous cannabinoid system is up-regulated in the brains of macaques with simian immunodeficiency virus-induced encephalitis. J Neurosci 25:2530-2536.

• Kim W-K, Corey S, Chesney G, Knight H, Klumpp S, Wüthrich C, Letvin NL, Koralnik IJ, Lackner A, Veasey RS, Williams K (2004) Identification of T lymphocytes in viral encephalitis: distribution of CD8+ T cells in association with CNS vessels and virus. J Neurovirol 10:315-325.

• Kim W-K, Corey S, Alvarez X, Williams K (2003) Monocyte/macrophage traffic in HIV and SIV encephalitis. J Leukoc Biol 74:650-656. Cover page of the journal.

• Kim W-K, Kan Y, Ganea D, Hart RP, Gozes I, Jonakait GM (2000) Vasoactive intestinal peptide and pituitary adenylyl cyclase-activating polypeptide inhibit tumor necrosis factor-a production in injured spinal cord and in activated microglia via a cAMP-dependent pathway. J Neurosci 20:3622-3630.

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